What a glorious history it is!
It is no little secret that the Indian National Field Hockey Team is one of the most successful hockey teams on Planet Earth. From the All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, Chennai, to Mahanth Raja Sarweshwer Das memorial All India Hockey Tournament, there are thirty-six national tournaments. In the fourteen Hockey World Cups, India finished on the podium thrice – bronze in Barcelona 1971, silver in 1973 Amstelveen, and gold in 1975 Kuala Lumpur. In eighteen Asian Games, India medaled on fifteen occasions. In eleven Asia Cup tournaments, India medaled on ten occasions.
Asian Games, Asia Cup, and Asian Champions Trophy, and fifty-four medals (gold, silver, and bronze) between Olympic Games and to Commonwealth Games tell a story like never before. At the Olympics alone, India produced more than 170 medalists. This included eight gold medals, a silver medal, and three bronze medals. The first, An Amsterdam 1928 gold, and the latest is a Tokyo 2020 bronze.
Out of this illustrious list, only two players have won four medals, five of them have won three medals, and thirty of them have won two medals at the Olympics. And the rest of the gentlemen have won a medal each. From Jaipal Singh, Richard Allen, and Broome Penniger to Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, and P. R. Sreejesh, India and Indian Hockey produced talents of matchless magicians.
Given below, probably for the very first time, is a complete list of every player who won an Olympic Medal for India in Field Hockey.
Gold Medal Winning Teams
1928 Amsterdam: Jaipal Singh (C), Richard Allen, Dhyan Chand, Maurice Gateley, William Goodsir-Cullen, Leslie Hammond, Feroz Khan, George Marthins, Rex Norris, Broome Penniger (VC), Michael Rocque, Frederic Seaman, Ali Shaukat, Sayed Yusuf, Kher Singh Gill and Nawab of Pataudi.
1932 Los Angeles: Lal Shah Bokhari (C), Richard Allen, Muhammad Aslam, Frank Brewin, Richard Carr, Dhyan Chand, Leslie Hammond, Arthur Hind, Sayed Jaffar, Masud Minhas, Broome Penniger, Gurmit Singh Kullar, Roop Singh, William Sullivan and Carlyle Tapsell.
1936 Berlin: Dhyan Chand (C), Richard Allen, Ali Dara, Lionel Emmett, Peter Fernandes, Joseph Galibardy, Earnest Goodsir-Cullen, Mohammed Hussain, Sayed Jaffar (VC), Ahmed Sher Khan, Ahsan Khan, Mirza Masood, Cyril Michie, Baboo Nimal, Joseph Phillips, Shabban Shahab-ud-Din, G.S. Garewal, Roop Singh and Carlyle Tapsell.
1948 London: Kishan Lal (C), Leslie Claudius, Keshav Dutt, Walter D’Souza, Lawrie Fernandes, Ranganathan Francis, Gerry Glacken, Akhtar Hussain, Patrick Jansen, Amir Kumar, Leo Pinto, Jaswant Singh Rajput, Latif-ur-Rehman, Reginald Rodrigues, Balbir Singh Sr., Randhir Singh Gentle, Grahanandan Singh, K. D. Singh Babu (VC), Trilochan Singh and Maxie Vaz.
1952 Helsinki: D. Singh Babu (C), Leslie Claudius, Meldric Daluz, Keshav Dutt, Chinadorai Deshmutu, Ranganathan Francis, Raghbir Lal, Govind Perumal, Muniswamy Rajgopal, Balbir Singh Sr., Randhir Singh Gentle, Udham Singh, Swarup Singh, Jaswant Singh, C.S. Dubey, C.S. Gurung, Dharam Singh and Grahanandan Singh.
1956 Melbourne: Balbir Singh Sr.(C), Leslie Claudius, Ranganathan Francis, Haripal Kaushik, Amir Kumar, Raghbir Lal, Shankar Lakshman, Govind Perumal, Amit Singh Bakshi, Raghbir Singh Bhola, Hardyal Singh Garchey, Randhir Singh Gentle, Balkishan Singh Grewal, Gurdev Singh Kullar, Udham Singh Kullar, Bakshish Singh, O.P. Malhotra and Charles Stephen.
1964 Tokyo: Charanjit Singh (C), Shankar Lakshman, Rajendran Christie, Prithipal Singh, Dharam Singh, Gurbux Singh, Mohinder Lal, Jagjit Singh, Rajinder Singh, Joginder “Gindi” Singh, Haripal Kaushik, Harbinder Singh, Balbir Singh, Bandu Patil, Victor John Peter, Udham Singh, Darshan Singh and Syed Mushtaq Ali.
1980 Moscow: Vasudevan Baskaran (C), Bir Bhadur Chettri(Jt. C), Allan Schofield, Sylvanus Dung Dung, Rajinder Singh, Davinder Singh, Gurmail Singh, Ravinder Pal Singh, Sommayya Maneypande, Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, Charanjit Kumar, Merwyn Fernandes, Amarjit Singh Rana, Mohamed Shahid, Zafar Iqbal, and Surinder Singh Sodhi.
Silver Medal Winning Teams
1960 Rome: Joseph Antic, Leslie Claudius, Jaman Lal Sharma, Mohinder Lal, Shankar Lakshman, John Peter, Govind Sawant, Raghbir Singh Bhola, Udham Singh Kullar, Charanjit Singh, Jaswant Singh, Joginder Singh, and Prithipal Singh
Bronze Medal Winning Teams
1968 Mexico City: Rajendra Christy, Krishnamurty Perumal, John V J Peter, Inam-ur Rahman, Munir Sait, Ajitpal Singh, Balbir Singh Kullar, Balbir Singh Kular, Balbir Singh, Gurbux Singh, Harbinder Singh, Inder “Gogi” Singh, Prithipal Singh, Tarsem Singh, and Jagjit Singh
1972 Munich: B P Govinda, Charles Cornelius, Manuel Frederick, Michael Kindo, V J Philips, Ashok Kumar, M P Ganesh, Krishnamurty Perumal, Ajitpal Singh, Harbinder Singh, Harcharan Singh, Harmik Singh, Kulwant Singh, Mukhbain Singh, Virinder Singh, and Vece Paes
2020 Tokyo: Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, P R Sreejesh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Hardik Singh and Vivek Prasad.
Multiple Olympic Medalists in Indian Hockey
Four Medals: Leslie Claudius and Udham Singh.
Three Medals: Balbir Singh Sr, Dhyan Chand, Ranganathan Francis, Randhir Singh Gentle, and Richard Allen.
Two Medals: Leslie Hammond, Sayed Jaffar, Broome Pinniger, Roop Singh Bais, Carlyle Tapsell, Keshav Dutt, Akhtar Hussain, Amir Kumar, Jaswant Singh Rajput, Latif-ur Rehman, Grahanandan Singh, K D Singh Babu, Raghbir Lal, Govind Perumal, Haripal Kaushik, Shankar Lakshman, Raghbir Singh Bhola, Mohinder Lal, John Peter, Charanjit Singh, Gurbux Singh, Harbinder Singh, Jagjit Singh, Joginder Singh, Prithipal Singh, Balbir Singh Kullar, Rajendran Christie, Krishnamurty Perumal, Ajitpal Singh, and Harmik Singh.
More those interested in reading more about this fabulous history, go here:
Legacy in the Olympics and World Cup
Great Job and usefully interesting data.
Amazing! To dig out the past is not so easy. Commendable piece of work.
This is a very comprehensive list; kudos to the due diligence by Ravi M